Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive transmission apparatus configured to transmit driving force from a driving source to an operation part, and an image forming apparatus equipped with the drive transmission apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, in the field of image forming apparatuses, a configuration adopting a swing gear mechanism with the aim to transmit driving force from a driving source such as a motor has been known. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-060666 discloses a drive transmission apparatus in which driving force is transmitted from a main body unit equipped with a driving motor via two swing gears to an opening/closing unit that can be opened and closed with respect to the main body unit.
According to this configuration, each swing gear, arranged in the main body unit and meshed with a drive gear driven by a driving motor, is supported by a support arm swingable with respect to the drive gear. The swing gear is arranged to be meshed with a driven gear arranged in an opening/closing unit in the state where the opening/closing unit is closed, such that change in distance between axes of the drive gear and driven gear caused by displacement of the opening/closing unit in a closed state is absorbed.
Now, according to such a configuration including a swing gear mechanism as the above described document, unlike normal gears having a fixed axial position, the support arm supporting the swing gear must be swingable in the assembled state. Therefore, the assembling operation should be carried out in a state where the drive gear, the swing gear and the support arm are positioned such that the swing gear is meshed with the drive gear, and that the support arm is swingable after being assembled.
However, if such assembling operation is performed manually, the operation of mounting the support arm swingably with respect to the drive gear is carried out while holding a plurality of members including the swing gear and the support arm, and this causes complication of the assembling operation. Even if components are temporarily assembled before carrying out the assembling operation with the aim to reduce workload of the assembling operation, the temporal assemble process causes the number of steps for manufacturing the entire apparatus to be increased.